Who doesn't love Japanther!? They have a new album out in Canada on Eric Warner's Toronto based label We Are Busy Bodies. The album is called Skuffed Up My Huffy.

Reasons Japanther are the coolest band:1) Their name.2) They sing into telephones instead of microphones (most important reason).3) Samples. Samples which are played off tape decks.4) Backwards drums5) Songs about skipping school (sung by men in their twenties).6) Always being on tour (nine times in two years!).7) Every song is pretty much the same.8) It is impossible not to dance.9) They only play in rooms that are way too hot and way too small.10) Noisy! Fun!!!

This is the first Japanther album in the CFUV library which is cause for celebration. To embrace this, I will play Japanther for many weeks to come on Carload of Whatever. Japanther were supposed to play a show here in Victoria earlier this summer with dd/mm/yyyy but unfortunate circumstances (and general disorganization on my part) forced the show to be cancelled. One day...they will return.

Fun fact: I used to play in a band that sounded exactly like Japanther. Maybe you too were in Lorne Park in those glory days.

Also notable on the playlist is the Peta Haden track which is a cover of Journey's epic Don't Stop Believin'. If you haven't heard the cover yet you should probably go here and stream it.

I've been far too busy so this is short. We said goodbye to summer with a Belle & Sebastian classic and examined the strange similarities between Japanther and Japandroids. Panthers vs Androids. Who would have thought... These playlists look so short. I guess I'm still adjusting to the one hour show.

I'm now back to a one-hour time slot. Carload of Whatever is now from 4-5 PM. These changes had to be made so that Gumdrops and Lollipops could rejoin the regular Sunday afternoon programming. After a four-month absence it's good to once again see G & L on the schedule right before Carload of Whatever.

There is some great new stuff into the station this week. I've been running around so I haven't had much time to become fully acquainted with each album, but noteworthy are new releases from The Go! Team and the increasingly influential and original Animal Collective. Also a highlight on the show this week was Royal City covering the Strokes' droner Is This It? I still find it a little strange how Royal City decided to cover the Strokes but I must say they did a great job with the track and made me realize just how good of a song it really is. The track was not officially released, but if you want to hear it just ask. Royal City called it quits nearly four years ago, but former Royal City drummer Nathan Lawr has just released his new solo album with lots of appearances from old friends.

On the show I was excited about the fact that Germans are finally coming to town, but upon further inquiries I have found that they have had to cancel their west coast tour AGAIN! Their van broke down and they have no money so we will have to wait a little longer.

This week a large portion of the show was devoted to "Toronto's evil super group" Holy Fuck. I caught up with the band on Thursday evening right before they played the first show of their west coast stint with Wolf Parade. Thanks a lot to Ronan O'Leary from Beggars for setting up the interview. The interview was supplemented with three tracks off the band's tour only vinyl EP. Some of those songs can be streamed here, otherwise you can wait until October 23 when the band's new album is released via their new label Young Turks (part of the Beggars Group). Hopefully you made it out to the show in time to catch Holy Fuck on Thursday as they are one of Canada's most exciting live acts to watch. They played a song using a toy telephone. If you want to hear the interview here it is:

There was lots of vinyl on the show this week in addition to Holy Fuck. Notable on the playlist is the Anagram track off of a 12" split they did with The Creeping Nobodies. We also explored the Dirty Projectors take on the Black Flag track Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie. The Dirty Projectors new album Rise Above is a wild remake of the first Black Flag album Damaged and is definitely worth checking out, if not just purely for the insanity of the whole project.

After a hard drive crash and a lot of dealing with the Mac geniuses, my computer is back in operation so as promised I have edited the interview with Old Life's Cody Spencer. The entire thing is about an hour and a half in duration, which may sound long, but keep in mind there is nearly 50 minutes worth of music mixed in. I cut out some of the ads and announcements that would have normally been heard on the air. Unfortunately the Sommer track got cut off. Apologies to Miles for that, but you can stream the song here or download the entire compilation here or else just wait a little longer and buy Sommer's album Soft Wish. Old Life Records Interview PART ONEOld Life Records Interview PART TWO

The files should run in iTunes, but let me know if you are having trouble playing it as I have never posted a show before. Cody has told me the bands are almost done recording the tracks for the Old Life 7-inch releases. I might have a sneak preview of these tracks in an upcoming show so stay tuned.

What happened to August? I disappeared for three shows due to weekends spent in Toronto, Vancouver and Seattle. I'm finally back to what looks like will be a more steady run of shows. This week I was joined in the studio by former Sunday afternoon CFUV staple Andrea Wong. The hour and a half was filled with generally unimportant banter but we danced around the station a lot while the songs were playing and the new students were looking in. Highlights included a very positive 'stay in school' track from a Think About Life demo disc and a public service announcement read by studio loiterer Caitlin Shane. I'm still working on getting that Old Life interview up. The picture on this post is the cover from the new Caribou album Andorra. There's no reason I posted it really, I just needed to make the post look nicer. Caribou is in town playing a show on Halloween. Go to it.

Tune in next Sunday, September 9th as I will be airing an interview with Toronto based electronic group Holy Fuck. They are in town this week, opening for Wolf Parade at Sugar on Thursday night. Tickets are completely sold so hopefully you were on the ball if you wanted to see this show.

Also exciting, the brand new and redesigned Renegade Radio Magazine is now available throughout Victoria. Renegade Radio is the CFUV bi-monthly (?) publication. I haven't seen it yet, but Gumdrops and Lollipops is excited about it and so am I. You can find your free copy at CFUV and Ditch Records. In it you'll find CD reviews, an indie rock crossword, an interview with Ladyhawk and an article on Old Life Records, among other things.